Dorner's fate unknown following shootout with police with timeline

ANGELUS OAKS, Calif. -- Authorities said that a burning cabin where murder suspect Christopher Jordan Dorner was believed to have been trapped was still too hot late Tuesday night to search it for a body.

Dorner, who has been the object of a massive manhunt for the past week, barricaded himself inside the cabin in Angelus Oaks after a gunfight with San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies, officials say. One deputy was killed and another wounded in the shooting.

Multiple reports earlier in the evening that a body had been found were denied and called rumors by Los Angeles police officials, who used a press conference to clarify that their search and various protective precautions would continue unless evidence later proves Dorner died in the fire.

The former Los Angeles police officer waged a one-man war against authorities for the past two weeks and had been the subject of massive manhunt that ultimately focused on a mountainous area near Big Bear, a popular Southern California vacation spot east of the city.

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Dorner is believed to have stolen a car from Big Bear Lake and attempted to flee Tuesday before being discovered by California Department of Fish and Wildlife warden who was aiding the sheriff's manhunt. The shootout began just before 1 p.m. when a wildlife officer recognized Dorner in a car traveling in the opposite direction. The wildlife officer turned his vehicle around, and Dorner opened fire, according to a Fish and Game spokesman.

The officer's vehicle was shot numerous times, and the suspect escaped on foot. There was an immediate call for backup, which included law enforcement officers from other agencies. Sounds of the gun battle were broadcast live by Southern California television stations, and schools in the area went on lockdown.

That battle led Dorner to take shelter in a nearby cabin, where the shootout with sheriffs deputies occurred. Both wounded deputies were airlifted to a nearby hospital, where one of them was declared dead. The other was still in surgery on Tuesday night, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon, but was expected to fully recover.

Following the shootout with deputies, law enforcement officials from departments around California converged on and laid siege to the cabin, which by evening was fully engulfed in flames with Dorner believed to be inside. A law enforcement official said a single shot was heard from inside the cabin before the fire began.

"We have to let it burn, simply because there is an armed and dangerous subject believed to be inside," San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said in a televised interview early in the evening.

Dorner, fired from the LAPD in 2009, is believed to be behind a series of deadly attacks stemming from his desire for revenge against the department. In a rambling manifesto posted on his Facebook page, Dorner said he planned to continue attacking LAPD officers and their families until his name was cleared.

Police suspect Dorner of the Feb. 3 shooting deaths in Irvine of Keith Lawrence and his fiancée Monica Quan, the daughter of an LAPD captain turned attorney who represented Dorner in the department hearing that led to his dismissal from the department.

On Thursday he allegedly killed Riverside police officer Michael Crain and wounded Crain's partner in an ambush attack while the men were stopped at a red light inside their patrol cars. In a separate incident on Thursday, Dorner also is alleged to have fired upon two Los Angeles police officers assigned to protection duties in Corona.

The Riverside County District Attorney's office has charged Dorner with three counts of attempted murder in the attacks on the officers..

Hundreds of law enforcement officers from Los Angeles to the Inland Empire became involved in the manhunt for Dorner. The search focused on the area around Big Bear Lake, where a Nissan Titan believed to belong to Dorner was found on fire near Bear Mountain ski resort. The number of law enforcement officers searching the mountains dwindled over the weekend from a peak of 125, but more than 200 officers participated in Tuesday's siege.

Authorities now believe Dorner had held four people hostage, possibly for days, at a home in the 1200 block of Club View Drive before fleeing the residence Tuesday in a stolen maroon Nissan Rogue, according to a high-ranking San Bernardino County sheriff's official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

One of the bound hostages managed to break free after Dorner fled the residence and called 911. Dorner reportedly crashed the Nissan and then carjacked a white Dodge 4-wheel-drive pickup, the sheriff's source said.

Big Bear Lake resident Tom Spiegel told CBS News the carjacking victim was his friend, who told him a man wearing camouflage clothing jumped out of the forest with a gun pointed at him and ordered him out of the truck. The driver of the truck told Spiegel he "immediately knew who it was" and put his hands in the air as he got out of the truck. The man in camouflage got into the truck and sped away, Spiegel told CBS News.

The white pickup was tracked to the area of Glass and Seven Oaks roads in Angelus Oaks, where the gunman, believed to be Dorner, began the final series of gunfights that led to the cabin where authorities believe his body remained late Tuesday.